nasus

Forms

nāsus m (genitive nāsī); second declension^[1] Early Latin also has a neuter nasum, in Plautus and Lucilius.^[2][3] The spelling nassus is also found.^[2]

Etymology

It is inherited from Proto-Italic *nāso- (“nose”), an o-stem made beside the i-stem nāris (“nostril”).^[4][1] De Vaan traces the stem to Proto-Indo-European *Hneh₂-s- (“nose”), a word often used in the dual for the nostrils; the unrhotacized /s/ is hard to explain and may come from another social layer of the language.^[4] Cognate with Sanskrit नासा (nā́sā, “nose”), Lithuanian nósis (“nose”), Old High German nasa (“nose”) and Old English nasu (“nose”).^[4]

Earliest recorded meaning

Köbler dates it from Naevius,^[5] who wishes that someone had bitten off a man's nose.^[2]

Semantic evolution

It is the nose, and as the organ of smell already in Plautus.^[2][3] Turning up the nose expresses scorn, as in Horace's “you hang the unknown on a hooked nose”.^[2] From this it means sharp, critical wit, as Seneca the Elder's nasus Atticus and in Martial.^[2] Juvenal uses it for the spout or lip of a cup.^[2][1] Medieval British texts also use it in physiognomy and figuratively for discernment.^[6]

Timeline

• c. 235–200 BC – Naevius of a nose bitten off.^[2][5]
• c. 250–184 BC – Plautus of the nose as the organ of smell.^[2][5]
• 65–8 BC – Horace of the nose turned up in scorn.^[2][5]
• c. 67–c. 127 AD – Juvenal of a cup with four spouts.^[2][5]

Meanings

Noun

1. The nose; the sense of smell.^[2][3][1]
2. (figurative) Scorn, expressed by the nose.^[2]
3. Sharp, critical wit.^[2]
4. The spout or lip of a vessel.^[2][1]

Word family

• nāsālis
• nāsīca
• nassiterna
• nāsūtē
• nāsūtus

Related words

• nāris

Usage notes

Döderlein distinguishes nasus, the outside of the nose as a feature of the face, from nārēs, the inside as the organ of smell.^[7]

References

1. ^ a b c d e f g Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o Glare, P. G. W., ed. (2012), Oxford Latin Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Oxford University Press
3. ^ a b c Lewis, Charlton T.; Short, Charles (1879), A Latin Dictionary, Oxford: Clarendon Press
4. ^ a b c de Vaan, Michiel (2008), Etymological Dictionary of Latin and the other Italic Languages, Leiden Indo-European Etymological Dictionary Series 7, Leiden; Boston: Brill
5. ^ a b c d e Köbler, Gerhard (2010), Lateinisches Abkunfts- und Wirkungswörterbuch für Altertum und Mittelalter, online ed., koeblergerhard.de
6. ^ Latham, R. E., D. R. Howlett, R. K. Ashdowne, et al. (1975–2013), Dictionary of Medieval Latin from British Sources, London: British Academy / Oxford University Press
7. ^ Döderlein, Ludwig (1874), Döderlein’s Hand-book of Latin Synonymes, tr. H. H. Arnold, Andover: W. F. Draper